Are you the REAL Chicken Soup
people or a spin off?
Can I submit more than one story?
Do you accept poetry?
What if I submitted a story a year ago to the Chicken
Soup web site, how do I know if someone really got it?
Should I submit it again?
Can I submit a story if I am of African descent,
but not American?
What if I am not African American, but have a great
story about an African American?
What is the selection process like?
Will you notify us if our story is or isn't used?
Will you give me an opportunity to edit my story
if the content is good, but the style is not "Chicken Soup" like?
If I submit my story to you, do I retain the
rights to it? Can I still submit it elsewhere?
When is the new deadline?
Are you the REAL Chicken
Soup people or a spin off?
We are the REAL DEAL! Lisa Nichols is the co-author of this book,
along with Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Eve Hogan is the
Senior Editor on the project. If you have any concerns about the
validity of this, simply submit your stories directly on the
www.ChickenSoup.com
website and specify that your story is for the African American
Soul book in the scroll down menu.
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Can I submit more than one
story?
By all means! Submit as many stories as you'd like!
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Do you accept poetry?
Yes, we do accept poetry and there will be poetry in the book.
HOWEVER, it is harder to get poetry accepted because there will be
less of it. BEFORE you submit poetry, please be sure that it meets
these guidelines: 1) It makes the reader laugh, cry or get
goosebumps, 2) It has to do with the African American experience
(while a wider range of story topics will be included, poetry must
be focused on the topic of the book, not just by African American
writers.
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What if I submitted a story
a year ago to the Chicken Soup web site, how do I know if someone
really got it? Should I submit it again?
There are quite a few stories that have been submitted to the
Chicken Soup
web site and we have read and rated them all. If you want to be
sure we received a specific story, email us at
stories[at]africanamericansoul.com
and ask. It is not likely that you will need to submit the story again, if
you already have, but it is wise to ask!
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Can I submit a story if I am of African
descent, but not American?
Please do! We apologize for the American niche of this title, but
don't mean to exclude anyone!
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What if I am not African American, but have a
great story about an African American?
By all means! Send your story in!
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What is the selection process like?
When you submit a story, it will first be read, edited for typos
and rated by the senior editor on the project, Eve Hogan. The
rating scale we use is a 1-10 rating with only 9's and 10's being
eligible for the book.
10: Gives the reader goosebumps, makes them laugh or cry.
9: Great story, inspiring message, felt good to read
8: Good story but lacks emotional punch or is not well written
If your story is rated a 9-10 in the first round of reading, it
will be passed on to Lisa and her committee for a second round of
reading. If they rate it a 9-10, it will be forwarded to Jack and
the Chicken Soup people as recommended for the book. It will then
go through another round of reading and rating. All the stories
that get to this final point with a 9-10 rating, will be collected
into the potential manuscript and will then have to go through a
final reading by about 40 readers (want to be one? Let us know!)
who will then rate them again. If your story is chosen, you will
be sent a permission request that will need to be signed and
returned.
As you can see, emotional impact and FEELING are imperative to
making it through this screening process. We suggest you go
through your own story and ask yourself if you included FEELING,
EMOTION, WHAT IT WAS LIKE, HOW YOU WERE TRANSFORMED, and if you
didn't go back and add it in!
GO TO THE BOOKSTORE AND READ CHICKEN SOUP STORIES to get the
feeling of what we are looking for. Many of the stories we get are
good stories or are interesting stories but lack emotional punch.
There is a difference between "Chicken Soup" stories and an
anthology of short stories. The reader needs to be positively and
powerfully impacted by reading your story. While your story may be
a great, well written story, if it lacks emotional punch or
doesn't meet the other criteria, it will not make it into the
book. Please take the time to "study" other Chicken Soup stories
before you write yours. This will greatly enhance your story's
chances of selection!
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Will you notify us if our story is or isn't
used?
Generally, we will not notify you if your story isn't being used,
because it may be held in the archives for a future book, or
passed on to another editor for a different Chicken Soup book that
it fits better. You are often not notified if we are planning to
use your story for quite a while because of the many levels of
reading/rating a story must go through before it is used. However,
if you inquire about the status of your story, if at all possible,
we will aim to inform you of its status. Please be patient about
the response as we are working with hundreds of stories and tight
deadlines. In some cases, we simply don't know yet because the
decision process is lengthy.
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Will you give me an opportunity to edit my
story if the content is good, but the style is not "Chicken Soup"
like?
If your story's content is really good, but is just slightly
missing the mark in emotional punch, we may opt to edit it for you
and send it to you for final approval, or me may opt to send it
back asking that you add emotion/feeling and resubmit it. If you
make a special request for feedback on your story, we will
try-time permitting-to honor your request. Due to the quantity of
stories being handled, however, it is not possible to give in
depth feedback on each and every story.
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If I submit my story to you, do I retain the
rights to it? Can I still submit it elsewhere?
You retain the rights to your story whether we use it or not. You
are welcome to submit it elsewhere and you are welcome to submit
previously published material (as long as you still hold the
rights to authorize us to print it again.)
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When is the new deadline?
The new book deadline has not been set yet. However, we would like
your stories as soon as possible so that we don't get them all at
the very last minute.
